Injustice Dies In Daylight: The Complete Saga

Year One

Warning: Part of this chapter features mentions of physical abuse. Do not continue if these themes make you uncomfortable.
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Roxanne had been on the island for almost 4 months. She had gained her own callsign,Banshee.She had made many good friends,especially George and Veronica. Aaron had also joined the ranks a few months back,taking the callsign Ace.
But thanks to slight changes in the way things operated,she got to be paired with Michael a lot during training and operations.
"Left,right,now duck." Michael called to some of the other rookies. Roxanne watched him intensely waiting for any criticism.
"Phoenix! Get your head out of clouds mate,and do as your told."
Well I guess criticism from James Mcoy would work too.
James had become her mentor in the past months,even recommending she be added to the reserves of the Howling Phantoms. Unfortunately she would have to wait until she had made high enough rank to even be in the reserves.

In the middle of their session they were all called to the Charlie Building,which sat right in between the Beta and Alpha building.
The Beta houses offices and workspaces for higher ranked officials,and the Alpha which held lecture halls,meeting rooms,and communications. The Charlie was just a big open area where news was announced and the connection to get from Beta to Alpha quickly. There were very few people in there,mostly people Roxanne knew, George, Veronica, Helen, Heather, Aaron, Michael, Jonas, Tom,and General Bruce Abner. Roxanne saw that Tom was standing next to someone she didn't recognize,he had longer black hair,green eyes and looked to be around 19. Roxanne could tell he was of some Caribbean descent,his dark tan and face shape gave it away.
They all waited patiently for the General to make his announcement,though most of them guessed it was about the handsome stranger. Roxanne noticed that he and Veronica seemed to have been staring at each other a bit.
"All of you,at attention. This is Robert Vanderbilt,he will be joining you in your training. He has chosen to go by the callsign of Víbora." Everyone seemed pretty excited,it wasn't very often someone new joined their force. The last person was Tom three months ago.
Abner continued. "There is something else I need to announce. I'm retiring effective tomorrow." The crowd seemed to just freeze. They all knew he was getting a little too old to continue serving,but no one was set to run the base while he was gone. Right?
"I know that it may seem out of nowhere,but I have spoken with Mr. Killian Thorton. He will run the base of operations until Colonel Richard Windsor returns. This will only be about 1 year."
Roxanne shuddered a little,she had met Killian once while visiting Michael and he gave her the creeps. He always seemed to be half drunk or on the verge of sobering up. The day she met him he was in a foul mood,and Roxanne had ducked out the moment he started calling her obscenities. She also was told that he had a drug problems by the strange looks in his eyes.
Veronica had spotted the effects the first time she met him.
Michael seemed to follow him like a lap dog,but Aaron always veered away from him; often saying he wished that wasn't his father.
Michael seemed happy,but the ghostly look on Aaron's face made Roxanne pity him.

After they all left Roxanne and George struck up a conversation with Robert. As he spoke,Roxanne noticed he had a thick Puerto Rican accent,so it didn't surprise her when he told them he was Puerto Rican. Veronica bee-lined her way to where they were standing,and Roxanne and George slipped away as they began to chat.
Walking outside together he looked at her "What do you think of him?"
Roxanne cocked her head to one side "Who? Robert or Killian?"
"Robert,he seems like a nice guy."
"Yeah,although I think Veronica's very interested." George snickered, "Oh you think so? Kinda like how you're interested in Mike?" Roxanne turned beet red. "Michael? Come on we're just training together,besides he's way older than me."
"Only 2 years."
"Yeah but still."
"Ok we'll see about that,in the meantime want to head down to Brews? Chester has some killer coffee on the pot I'm sure." Roxanne thought about it. She didn't really care for coffee,but Brews had some great Sandwiches. "Sure,why not?"

Two weeks later _______________
Ever since Killian had taken over things seemed to be even more stressful than it used to be. Papers missing or late,loud fits of anger,nothing was getting done on time. It was getting more and more stressful every time. Roxanne wondering how long she could keep going like this,it was even wearing Jonas down. Roxanne and Jonas had been assigned to work for Killian as part of their studies. Every time they walked into that office it was gamble whether or not something would be thrown their direction. He always told Roxanne that he would "Get to you at some point."  She didn't want to know what he meant by that,but she knew it would be violent. She missed being able to participate in basic training. Though now that she was a corporal basic training was pretty much over. Her head ached and she had begun to rely on ibuprofen and barbiturates to get her to sleep at night.

3 Months Pass______
Roxanne sat at her desk trying to hold back tears,her hand burning with pain. She didn't even know why he did it. She turned those papers in on time. Why didn't Jonas intervene? Deep down she knew.
He was scared too.
Roxanne could still feel that cigarette,and every time she thought about it it made her hand hurt worse. It's only going to get worse. She wished she could've told Michael,but he wouldn't believe her. Veronica swore to secrecy when she treated the burn,and George couldn't know. She knew what he'd do if he found out,and she didn't want him discharged because of that. Aaron knew,but what could he do?
I just need to get out,maybe visit the gorge. Yeah I'll visit the gorge,it's always pretty when the leaves fall. George will go with me,he always does.